I Accidentally Locked Down a Witch (Accidents Happen #4)

Chapter One – Burning Nips

“My nipples are burning!” Tay yelled out, her two afro puffs bouncing on the sides of her head as she moved.

The style looked so cute on her, and the butterfly clips in her hair sprinkled glitter that had made it to her cheeks, highlighting her dark skin during our run. Despite looking like she was ready to throw in the proverbial towel, my friend was looking cute!

“I told your silly ass to wear the nip guards!” I laughed as I dropped my pace to a slow jog next to my friend, who’d recently made the mistake of telling me she wanted to get right with her fitness journey.

“It wasn’t a fashion suggestion. I was trying to save my top-heavy bestie from disaster.

I can’t believe you’re still double-strapping those girls in those cheap sports bras! ”

“Those guards were uncomfortable, and I’m pretty sure I snatched my skin off trying to adjust them.

But, dammit, this is worse!” She held her boobs as she ran, trying to stop the friction of her bra that didn’t give nearly as much support as she required.

“And not too much on my sports bras. They were perfectly fine until you started making me do all this running. The bounce is stretching out the fabric.”

“Tay, that’s the point of a sports bra. You’re supposed to be able to do sports in them!”

“Shon, I will not be lectured by a woman with regular ol’ D cups! Now, please tell me this is almost over. If not, you might have to drag my big ass the rest of the way. I won’t blame you for any bruising.”

“We’re almost there. Just around this bend, and we’ll be back at the parking lot.” I pumped my arms in an attempt to motivate her. “Girl, you got this!”

“Thank God!” She released a boob for a moment to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “Lord, I’m sweating like a fat man’s balls!”

“You can’t talk like that.” I shook my head, trying to control my breathing and not pass out from laughing at her. “It’s insensitive.”

“Excuse me; sometimes I slip back into my old ways.” She paused. “I’m sweating like a…shit, something that sweats a lot!”

“We've gotta work on your colloquialisms!” I pointed at her. “Surely, there are more idioms you can add to your internal library.”

“Shontae, I’m tired. Please put all those big-ass words back in your pocket. This is downtime! I have to use my brain too much at work. Let me run with my sore nipples in peace. Sweating like a whore in church! How’s that?”

I had to stop running to laugh at that one. “Now you're talking like the old heads!”

“Well damn, I can’t win for losing.” She laughed. “Charge it to the fire nipples and not my heart.”

After that, we effectively exchanged our run for the remaining distance to the cars for a brisk walk, enough to keep the heart rate up. I smiled at the relief on her face when I told her we could slow our pace.

“I know I complain a lot, but I really appreciate you for this.” Tayvion continued massaging her chest. “Girl, I’ve been trying everything to get these pounds off, but I can’t keep myself motivated on my own.

I try something for a few weeks, get good at it, miss one or two days, and then it’s like I did nothing to begin with.

It’s so frustrating. My doctor says I’m doing well with my diet and water intake, but I’ve plateaued. ”

“Of course.” I nodded. “Don’t worry about it.

I’m there for my girl, you know that. I told you to come to me when you were ready; I wasn’t going to be pushy.

Just because this is my job doesn’t mean everybody wants to deal with me in this capacity.

We can meet up whenever you want, but I’ll assign you a different personal trainer at the gym, someone who can customize a plan for you.

It's best if it’s not me so things don’t get muddied.

I don’t need you ignoring my calls because you think I’m calling about fitness schedules. ”

“I would never!” She laughed and then tapped her chin. “I mean, I don’t think I would.”

“Yeah, right.” I nudged her shoulder. “I can see you now: screening my calls while nibbling on a piece of that matcha chocolate stuff you like.”

“They’re so addictive! It’s Caddy’s fault for introducing them to me.”

“They are good.” I laughed.

“I don’t know how you do it. You’re a muscle mommy who stays in shape while also being a powerhouse in every area of your life.” She sighed. “I admit, it was a little intimidating thinking about coming to you for help, like admitting I failed, and you know how much I love admitting my faults.”

“Just about as much as I do! That's how we became friends, remember? We both face-planted going after…what was his name?”

“Kenneth!” We both cackled.

“That was before you accepted you weren’t into men!” She pointed at me, laughing even harder. “I don’t know how you didn’t realize it. I saw you with Marcus, that junior with the cute mole that looked like a piercing above his eyebrow, and I knew immediately. Girl, you cringed when he touched you!”

“I was deep in denial.” I thought about the man I’d left stunned when I broke up with him.

He insisted we could make it work until I blurted out how looking at his dick coming at my face made me want to puke, and that was how I realized I was a lesbian.

I swear, the man looked like he was going to cry.

“Damn straight.” She paused. “I mean, you’re not straight, but you get what I mean.”

“You’re terrible.” I snorted.

“And you’re amazing! I’m serious, Shon. I’m so proud of you. You have your shit together, and I’m trying to be more like you.”

“Don’t get into comparisons. There are many ways I wish I was more like you. Staying fit is my literal profession; it is about helping people be healthy. How would it look if I were telling someone how to live a healthier life while struggling to keep up with them?”

“You’re right. I think it’s the exercise. All the endorphins are making me all sappy. I just wanted you to know how impressed I am with you.” She pretended to sniffle. “Gonna make a gangster cry!”

“And I’m proud of you too! Happy my circle is full of successful black women. What is it they say? Spend time with people who live their lives the way you want to live yours. We’re always setting new goals and going for them. No matter the stumbles, we don’t give up!”

Shontae Carter. Personal trainer. Rising social media star.

Appearances on television. Life was good, but as I hyped my friend up, I fought back the urge to tell her that lately, it felt like something was missing from my life.

I found myself just going through the motions because I couldn’t figure out what was really wrong.

It started about a year prior. I was going through life, reaching my goals and setting new ones, when suddenly, everything shifted.

I went to sleep feeling whole, complete, and woke up with this gnawing feeling, like during the night, I’d lost a big part of myself.

A year of therapy and soul searching later, and I still hadn’t figured out what it was. To be honest, it was pissing me off!

“How’s Stacey?” Tay asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “You haven’t mentioned her in a while. Everything okay with you two?”

“Oh, I haven’t talked to her in about a month.” I shrugged. “She said something about feeling disconnected from me, and then that was it.”

“What? I thought things were going so well.” She sipped from the bottle she carried in the holster around her waist. “You had googly eyes and everything!”

“I don’t know. Things just kinda fizzled out.

One minute, I was all excited about her, and the next, seeing her name on my phone annoyed the hell out of me.

It’s been like that with every person I’ve hooked up with lately.

Nothing sticks.” I shrugged. “I was thinking about ending it, told myself I would give it another week, and that was mostly because I was busy with work and didn’t want the distraction.

She beat me to it. Made me a good meal and then walked out of my life. ”

“Are you okay?” Her expression turned serious. “I mean, really. You’ve always been Miss Long Term. I’ve never seen you fly through women like you have lately.”

“Yeah, right now, I’m blaming my work. My therapist says I'm deflecting.” I squinted as the sun hit my eyes.

“She’s probably right, but despite all the meditation and journaling, I can’t really figure out what the real problem is.

So, I’ll focus on controlling what I can.

Work, health, friendships. These are the things I can pour my energy into.

I’ll figure out the love life stuff when it’s time. ”

“Of course. It’s the best way.” She clapped her hands and cheered as we finally reached our cars parked side by side. “Thank the heavens! Child, I thought we would never make it back.”

“Why are you acting like I dragged you through hell and back?” I checked the fitness tracker on my watch. We’d barely hit two miles, but the way she was performing, you would have thought we had done a full marathon.

“Do you know me at all?” She scrunched her brows. “You made me run two miles. That is hell for me!”

“You’re right. Carry on.” I waved for her to continue her melodramatic display.

“Thank you.” Tay cleared her throat then threw herself onto the car, spreading her arms out wide to hug the frame and sighed. “You know, the metal feels good on my nipples.”

Just then, we heard the deep, throaty cough of a man, and we both turned to see a short guy with long, curly red hair wearing blue shades, standing there with his dog.

He looked over his frames at her big breasts pressed against the hood of her car, face lit up like a bulb on a Christmas tree, then turned and walked away.

As soon as he turned the corner and was out of sight, we fell out laughing!

“He was kinda cute; you should have gotten his number.” I poked her side. “Maybe that’s the man of your dreams.”